To facilitate the mounting of lock hardware, a conventional metal commercial door has a rectangular opening or "mortise" on the lateral vertical edge of the lock stile. Because the lock hardware is inserted into the door through this rectangular opening, the opening must have dimensions approximately as large as the width and height of the door lock hardware. Once the door lock hardware is installed, the entire edge of the hardware is exposed through the rectangular opening in the edge of the door.
To conceal the lock hardware, a face plate is installed within the opening over the exposed edge of the lock hardware. The face plate is configured to fit closely within the opening in the door and fastens to the edge of the lock within the mortise while the threaded fasteners are being installed. Typically three screws are required to secure the top, bottom, and middle of the face plate. Providing screws creates additional handling and inventory demands. In addition, screws can become lost or separated from the faceplate.
Thus there is a need for a face plate which can be held in place on the vertical edge of the lock stile with fewer fasteners, or with no fasteners at all.
The plunger and/or deadbolt engages the door frame through corresponding apertures in the face plate. Because various types of lock hardware, such as long throw deadbolts, short throw deadbolts, hook bolts, and latch locks all have different configurations of plungers and/or deadbolts, each configuration of lock hardware requires a corresponding configuration of face plate.
Thus it would be desirable to provide a face plate which would accommodate a variety of plunger/deadbolt configurations.